Tom Hawkins

Thomas John Hawkins (born 21 July 1988) is an Australian rules footballer playing for the Geelong Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).

At 198 cm (6 ft 6 in) tall and weighing 110 kg, Hawkins has the ability to play as either a full-forward or centre half-forward.

He grew up in New South Wales before moving to Victoria to attend Melbourne Grammar School, where his football abilities earned him a spot in the first XVIII in year ten.

He played top-level football with the Sandringham Dragons in the TAC Cup and Vic Metro in the AFL Under-18 Championships.

His accolades as a junior include national and state representation, the Larke Medal as the AFL Under-18 Championships most valuable player, and All-Australian selection.

There, Hawkins helped Geelong reach the VFL Grand Final for the second successive year, booting three goals as the Cats defeated the Coburg Tigers to claim their first VFL premiership since 2002.

As the eldest son of former Geelong champion Jack Hawkins, Hawkins was drafted by Geelong under the father–son draft rule with the forty-first selection in the 2006 national draft.

Having gained permission to join local under-18 club in 2006, the Sandringham Dragons for numerous games during the season, Hawkins impressed in his limited appearances within the elite TAC Cup competition, highlighted by a twenty-two disposal, nine mark, and five goal effort in just his third game.

In the same year, he was awarded an AIS/AFL academy scholarship as part of the ninth intake.

The scholarship, awarded to outstanding young athletes entering the last year of their junior football development, saw Hawkins participate in several training camps, capped off with representation for Australia in the under-18 International Rules Series, before completing his summer training with the Geelong Football Club.

In the mid-year of 2006, Hawkins was selected to play in the 2006 AFL Under-18 Championships, lining up at full forward for Vic Metro.

A best on ground performance which yielded twelve marks and six goals in the opening match against South Australia began a wave of unprecedented hype and attention, with Hawkins drawing comparisons to former forward, Jonathan Brown and leading Vic Metro coach David Dickson to declare the young forward as "the best footballer I've seen...since Chris Judd".

Hawkins was awarded the Larke Medal as the most valuable player within division one and named as the tournament's All-Australian full-forward, just falling short of the all-time contested marking record held by Justin Koschitzke.

Hawkins was officially selected by Geelong in the 2006 national draft under the father–son rule.

While many pundits lauded him as the best key position prospect within the draft, and felt Hawkins' junior performances warranted possible selection with the top overall pick, the father-son rules at the time only required Geelong to use a middle-tier third round pick to draft him.

The subsequent controversy over what was widely acknowledged as a bargain gain for the Cats led to the AFL amending the father-son ruling for future use.

With a reputation as one of the finest young tall forwards in the land, Hawkins was immediately billed as the successor to the legendary Gary Ablett, whose retirement ten years earlier had left a gaping hole in Geelong's forward line.

A stress reaction injury to his right leg, however, halted Hawkins' pre-season, forcing his much-awaited debut in Geelong colours to take place in the Victorian Football League (VFL) side.

He made his AFL debut in 2007, which saw former coach Denis Pagan compare him to the highest goal scorer in the history of the league and former full-forward, Tony Lockett, after his debut game.

His debut season saw him earn an AFL Rising Star nomination and he was part of Geelong's Victorian Football League (VFL) premiership side.

He has since become a three-time AFL premiership player, a Coleman Medalist, an All-Australian full forward, a Carji Greeves Medallist as the club best and fairest player, an eleven-time leading goalkicker for Geelong, and a recipient of the former AFL Army Award—awarded to a player who produces significant acts of bravery or selflessness during a season.

Hawkins was born in Finley, New South Wales to Jack, and Jenny Hawkins.

He grew up in the New South Wales region of Finley as the second child among four children.

He attended Finley High School and played for the Finley Football Club before making the move south of the border to begin boarding at Melbourne Grammar School, a long time tradition in his family.

Hawkins' footballing ability was recognised early on when he was selected to play first XVIII football for the school while still in year ten, when many of his teammates were completing their final year of schooling at year twelve.

Hawkins kicked four goals on debut for the school and his performances up forward soon received attention from AFL recruiting teams.

By the time he had reached his final school year he was rewarded with joint captaincy of the football team alongside Hawthorn draftee Xavier Ellis.

He was also selected in the Associated Public Schools (APS) team to play the Associated Grammar School selected football team in the traditional annual clash of schools, where he won best on ground honours for his performance.

Hawkins made his highly anticipated debut for the Geelong seniors in round two of the 2007 season against.

Opposed to Carlton captain Lance Whitnall, Hawkins impressed with three goals and several strong marks in Geelong's seventy-eight point victory, prompting then-Carlton coach, Denis Pagan to label him the next Tony Lockett.

Other revered media figures, such as Gerard Healy and David Parkin, were moved enough to describe the debut as the best first-up performance in recent memory.

Uncommonly for AFL debutants, he followed up with an even more impressive performance in his second game, kicking four first-half goals to help set up a victory against at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), earning the AFL Rising Star nomination for round three in the process.

Question marks, however, were raised over his fitness and ability to run out entire games, and after nine games in his debut season, which saw him kick twelve goals, Hawkins saw out the rest of the year with the clubs' VFL side.

Despite inconsistencies in Hawkin's form, he played twenty-four matches for the 2009 season, including the grand final, where he played alongside other father-son selections, Gary Ablett, Matthew Scarlett and Mark Blake.

He scored two goals in the game to help Geelong defeat by twelve points, winning the 2009 AFL premiership.

A mid-year footy injury saw Hawkins miss seven weeks of football in 2010, and he finished the season with eighteen matches and twenty-one goals.

He did, however, play in Geelong's final series; a narrow loss to St Kilda in the qualifying final hampered Geelong's chances of retaining the premiership and a forty-one point loss to eventual premiers,, in the preliminary final ended Geelong and Hawkins' season.

Hawkins faced scrutiny during the 2011 season for his inconsistent form, which saw him dropped from the senior side in the middle of the season.

He was highly praised during Geelong's finals series in which Herald Sun journalist, Scott Gullan labelled the qualifying win against the best match of Hawkins' career at the time.

One of his goals was notably controversial, as it was later ruled it had hit the goal post, which should have been registered as a behind; this was one of the reasons behind the introduction of the goal review system implemented by the AFL during the 2012 season.